Railway roadbed plow



Sept. 23, 1969 c. COY 3,468,042

RAILWAY ROADBED PLOW Filed Dec. 21, 1966 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 6. INVENTOR.

Arrow/75 Sept. 23, 1969 c. ,COY 3,468,042

RAILWAY ROADBED PLOW Filed Dec. 21. 1966 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Se t. 23, 1969 c. L. coY 3,468,042

RAILWAY ROADBBD PLOW Filed Dec. 21. 1966 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Ill/IL/ INVENTOR. CAL V/A/ A. 50)

United States Patent C) 3,468,042 RAILWAY ROADBED PLOW Calvin L. Coy, Gun Plain Township, Allegan County, Mich., assignor to Kalamazoo Manufacturing Company, Kalamazoo, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Filed Dec. 21, 1966, Ser. No. 603,596 Int. Cl. E0111 27/02 US. Cl. 37104 9 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A railway roadbed plow for a railway vehicle for spreading ballast along the banks of a railroad railway wherein the plow is V-shaped and each one of the blades is supported for vertical movement independent of the other with means being provided for separately raising and lowering the blades independently of each other. Clamping means are provided for holding the blades together in the area of their adjacent ends to prevent a separation thereof but still allowing the blades to be raised and lowered independent of each other.

travelling in one direction and collecting or converging the ballast toward the center of the roadbed while the vehicle is travelling in the opposite direction. However, this type of equipment has the disadvantage of its being a very slow and cumbersome operation to take the ballast material distributed along one side of the railway roadbed and, as is often required, transfer it to a position on the other side of the railway roadbed. In order to overcome this slow operation, an auxiliary blade has been used which is attached to the front of the plow and which extends frontwardly and sidewardly to convert a V-shaped plow into a single-blade plow transversely positioned across the tracks to pick up the ballast which has been transferred from a location along one side of the roadbed to a position toward the center of the roadbed and then to transfer it toward the other side of the roadbed. However, this expedient also is deficient in that it requires the operator of the vehicle to leave same so that he can properly adjust the auxiliary blade.

In order to eliminate the necessity of the operator leaving the vehicle to set the auxiliary blade in the desired position, a system utilizing a V-shaped plow has been developed and is hereinafter described wherein the blade halves are independently elevatable. Particularly in utilizing a V-shaped plow, it is necessary to provide means to prevent the independent blade halves from separating at the apex of the plow when said blades become loaded and at the same time permitting the blades to be independently elevatable.

It is a further problem of this type of plow system in that the parts which are difficult to replace around the apex of the plow are subjected to substantial wear and means are herein provided to minimize such wear.

Accordingly, the objects of this invention include:

1) To provide a railway vehicle capable of moving forwardly and rearwardly along the railway todistribute or level ballast along the roadbed while moving either forwardly or rearwardly.

(2) To provide a ballast distributing machine for railways capable of collecting ballast deposited or otherwise present along the sides of the roadbed and uniformly distributing it.

(3) To provide the independently elevatable blade halves with a simplified strengthening device to prevent the plow blades from separating at the apex thereof.

(4) To provide all of the areas which are subject to wear on the plow with easily replaceable wear resistant plates.

(5) To provide a plow which is capable of being locked in an elevated position to prevent an accidental dropping thereof.

Other objects and purposes of this invention will be apparent to persons acquainted with apparatus of this general type upon reading the following specification and inspecting the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a railway vehicle having a plow embodying the invention, said plow being in the lowered position.

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of a railway vehicle having a plow embodying the invention, one blade of which is in the elevated position.

FIGURE 3 is a side view of the plow.

FIGURE 4 is a top plan view of the plow.

FIGURE 5 is a sectional view taken along line V-V of FIGURE 4.

FIGURE 6 is a sectional view taken along line VIVI of FIGURE 4.

FIGURE 7 is a sectional view taken along line VII VII of FIGURE 4.

FIGURE 8 is a sectional view taken along line VIII- VIII of FIGURE 7.

FIGURE 9 is a sectional view taken along line IXlX of FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 10 is a sectional view taken along line X-X of FIGURE 9.

FIGURE 11 is a sectional view taken along line XI-XI of FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 12 is a sectional view taken along line XII- XII of FIGURE 5.

Certain terminology will be used in the following description for convenience in reference only and will not be limiting. The words upwardly, downwardly, rightwardly and leftwardly will designate directions in the drawings to which reference is made. The words forwardlv and rearwardly will refer to the directions to the right and left, respectively, of the plow shown in FIGURES 3 and 4. The words inwardly and outwardly will refer to directions toward and away from, respectively, the geometric center of the device and designated parts thereof. Said terminology will include the words above specifically mentioned, derivatives thereof and Words of similar import.

General description In general, the objects and purposes of the invention have been met by providing in a railway machine for spreading ballast along the tracks of the railway roadbed, .a frame which is attachable to the front of a railway vehicle, said frame independently supporting a plurality of plow means. The frame is provided with means for raising and lowering independent ones of said plow means, each of the independently supported plow means being provided on their mutually adjacent sides with means for holding said adjacent sides together so that they will not become separated when loaded but yet still permit said plow means to be independently elevatable.

Detailed description A ballast distributing machine 10 is illustrated in FIG- URE 1. The ballast distributing machine comprises a vehicle 11 driven by an internal combustion engine 12 mounted on frame 13 in front of the drivers cab 14. The engine 12 is connected through suitable gearing to the wheels of the vehicle to drive same forwardly and backwardly. This general type of machine is already well known, has been set forth in detail in several patents of which Nos. 3,047,968 and 3,080,665 are examples, and hence same needs no further detailing. Accordingly, the following description may and will he confined to the plow structure which is the subject of the present invention.

A plow 16 comprises two independently supported plows 17 and 17A. The left-hand (as seen in FIGURE 1) plow 17 is identical to the right-hand plow 17A and, therefore, only the left-hand plow will be described. The reference numerals used to refer to the various components of the plow 17 will apply to the plow 17A, however, a subscript A will be added to the reference numerals used in connection with plow 17A to distinguish the components of the two plows.

The plow 17 is supported upon a plow-support frame 18 which comprises two sets of S-shaped brackets 19 and 20 (FIGURES 1 and 3) extending vertically upwardly from a plate 21 and are secured thereto by a plurality of bolts 22 (FIGURE 4). The brackets 19 and 20 each comprises a pair of parallel generally S-shaped members 23 and 24 (FIGURES 4 and The upper end of the brackets 23 and 24 are provided with an L-shaped cross bar 26 connecting the upper end of the bracket 19 to the upper end of the bracket 20. The cross bar 26 serves to strengthen the bracket members 19 and 20 and also provides the support for the upper ends of a pair of tubular members 27 and 28. More particularly, the L-shaped cross bar 26 comprises a vertical leg 27 and a horizontal leg 28, leg 27 being secured to the forward side of the upper ends of the individual S-shaped brackets 23 and 24. The other leg 28 is secured to the underside of the upper ends of the brackets 23 and 24 and is provided with .a tubular member 29. The upper end of said tubular member 29 is secured to the L-shaped cross bar 26 adjacent the left end thereof, and preferably between the individual members 23 and 24 of the bracket 19. Tubular incl-tiger 31 is sleevably mounted over the tubular mem- The frontward edge 33 (FIGURE 3) of the frame 13 is provided with L-shaped bracket 34 secured thereto by bolts 35 (FIGURE 5). The horizontal leg 38 of the bracket 34 is provided with an upwardly extending tubular member 39 (FIGURE 5) which is weldably secured thereto. Said tubular member 39 is preferably in vertical alignment with the tubular member 29, so that the tubes 31 will sleevably fit over the tubular members 29 and 39 as shown in FIGURE 5. The tubular member 32 is supported in the same manner and further discussion thereof is believed not necessary.

A bushing housing 40 comprises a pair of vertically spaced bushings 42 and 43 (FIGURES 5 and 11) which are sleevably mounted over the tube 31 and are interconnected by a pair of parallel plates 44 .and 45. The forward ends of the parallel plates 44 and 45 overlap the sides of the vertical leg 51 of an L-shaped frame member 46 (FIGURES l1 and 12). The leg 52 of the frame member 46 extends forward perpendicularly .away therefrom. A web member 48 is secured to the legs 51 and 52 of the frame 46 for rigidifying purposes. The forward end of the bushing housing 41 is secured in a like manner to the L-shaped frame member 47 having legs 53 and 54. A web member 49 is secured to the legs 53 and 54 for rigidifying purposes. A cross bar 56 is secured to the upper ends of the legs 51 and 53. The right end (FIGURE 5) of the cross bar 56 is connected to the free end of the rod 57 of the cylinder 58.

A flange 55 depends from the central portion of the cross bar 56, the lower end of said flange has an opening 121 therethrough. The lower end of the cylinder 58 is secured to a carriage 59 by a pin 60. The carriage 59 is secured to the leg 38 of the bracket 34. A plow blade mounling plate 67 (FIGURE 4) is secured to the lower surfaces of the legs 52 and 54 of the L-shaped frame members 46 and 47.

A tubular member 61 is secured to the leg 38 of the bracket 34 between the pair of L-shaped frames 46 and 47. A rod 62 of a brush element 63 extends through the tubular member 61 and is secured thereto by a set screw 64.

The plow 17 comprises a rearwardly facing plow blade 71 and a forwardly facing plow blade 72 which are separated by a plurality of gusset members 73 and 73' (FIG- URE 9) and are weldably secured to the inner sides of the plow blades 71 and 72 to prevent relative movement therebetween. A horizontal plate 74 (FIGURE 4) is secured to the upper edges of the blades 71 and 72 and is secured to the underside of the plow mounting plate 67 by a plurality of bolts 76.

Each of the gusset members 73 and 73 shown in FIG- URES 9 and 10 is provided with a bracket 77 and 77, respectively, secured thereto by bolts 86 and 86'. Each bracket 77 and 77 have a pair of tubular members 78, 79 and 78', 79', respectively, weldably secured thereto. Since brackets 77 and 77' are identical, only bracket 77 will be discussed. Brush elements 81 and 82 are insertable through the tubes 78 and 79, respectively, and are held to the bracket 77 by a clamp 83, said brush elements 81 and 82 being wedged between the clamp 83 and the bracket 77 by the tightening of a bolt 84. The bracket 77 is secured to the gusset 73 by a plurality of nuts and bolts 86. The tubular members 78 and 79 are inclined upwardly on the bracket 77 so that the brush elements 81 and 82 will extend downwardly toward the rail 87. The gusset members 73 are provided with an opening 88 through which the tubular members 78 and 79 and the brush elements 81 and 82 which are held therein will pass therethrough. The lower ends of the brush elements 81 .and 82 contact the rail 87 along one side thereof. The brush elements 81 and 82' on the other hand extend downwardly to contact the opposite side of the rail.

A vertical plate 91 is secured to the ends of the plow blades 71 and 72 adjacent the apex thereof. A vertical slot 92 (FIGURE 7) passes through the plate 91 and which is disposed between the plow blades 71 and 72 as shown in FIGURE 7. A square opening 93 (FIGURE 8) is provided in the plate 91 to the left of the slot 92 and adjacent thereto.

The vertical plate 91A is secured to the ends of the plow blades 71A and 72A adjacent the apex thereof. The plate 91A has a slot 92A and a square opening 93A corresponding to the slot 92 and the square opening 93. However, they are oriented so that the slot 92A is aligned with the square opening 93 and the opening 93A is in alignment with the slot 92.

A roller assembly 6 is positioned within the opening 93 and the slot 92A and comprises a rod 97 slideable axially through the opening 93, as well as vertically within the slot 92A, one end of said rod having a threaded end portion 98, the other end being square to conform to the opening 93 in the plate 91. This square end construction prevents the rod 97 from rotating within the square opening 93. A spring 99 is sleevably mounted over the threaded end 98 of the rod 97. One end of the spring 99 bears against a washer 101 resting against a boss 102 and the other end bears against a washer 103 resiliently urged against a nut 104 threadedly engaged on the threaded end 98 of the rod 97 A roller 106 is secured to the square end 107 of the rod 97, the axis of said roller being transverse to the axis of the rod 97. The roller 106 is positioned so that it will roll on the outer surface of the plate 91A. Likewise, the roller 106A is positioned so that it will roll on the outer surface of the plate 91.

A wear plate 108 is secured to the lower edge of the plate 91 by a plurality of bolts 109. The forward end of the wear plate 108 is held in place by a bar 111 which depends over the outer surface of the wear plate 108 and which is secured to the wall 91 by a bolt 112 to prevent the said wear plate frombeing bent outwardly. The leading edges of the plow blades 71 and 72 are .also provided with wear plates, two of which, 113 and 114, associated with blade 72, are shown in FIGURE 3.

A locking assembly 116 is provided on the central portion of the cross bar 26. The locking assembly 116 comprises a cylinder 117 secured to a mounting plate 118. The cylinder rod 119 is movable into engagement with the opening 121 in the depending flange 55 as shown in FIGURE 6 in response to the actuation of the proper control by the operator in the cab 14.

Operation Although the operation of the device embodying the invention has been indicated somewhat above, said operation will be described in detail hereinbelow to assure a more complete understanding of the invention.

The independently supported plow blade 17 is vertically movable on the guide rods 31 .and 32, the blade 17A is similarly movable on similar rods associated with the frame 18A, by activating proper controls in the cab 14 which actuates the cylinders 58 and 58A. The blade 17 is shown in the elevated position in FIGURE 2.

The clamping assembly 96 is designed to prevent the adjacent plates 91 and 91A from separating when the blades 71, 72 and/or 71A, 72A become loaded. The torsional stresses put upon the plow support frames 18 and 18A is such that said plates 91 and 91A would become separated, if it were not for the clamping assemblies, and thereby put a greater strain on the plow support frames 17 and 17A. The slots 92 and 92A in the plates 91 and 91A, respectively, permit the roller assemblies 96 and 96A, respectively, to move vertically therein. The rollers 106 also permit relative movement of the plates 91 and 91A when the plows 17 and 17A are moved with respect to each other. The rollers are held against the outer surfaces of the plates 91 and 91A by the springs 99 and 99A. Any force tending to separate the plates 91 and 91A will be resisted by the forces of the springs 99 and 99A holding the rollers on the plates.

The clamping assemblies 96 and 96A thus tie the plow sections 17 and 17A together at their apex thereby constituting a stronger plow assembly. That is, the torsional stresses on the plow-support frames 18 and 18A are reduced to such an extent that the tendency for the tubular members 31, 32 and 31A, 32A to bend is substantially reduced because the force is distributed over the four tubular members rather than just the two tubular members as is the case with the plow assemblies having no clamping means at there apex.

The brushes disposed between the blades 71, 72 and 71A, 72A .are positioned so that the lower free ends thereof are adjacent the sides of the rails 87 and 87A, respectively. The brushes serve to remove the ballast material from the sides of the rails so that a fast moving train subsequently passing over said ballast and having turbulent air around the wheels will not pick up stones around the wheels of the cars and which stones could then be thrown or knocked sideways therefrom. This condition would be especially dangerous near crossings where automobiles may be awaiting the passage of said train. The outwardly flying stones could possibly strike the waiting automobiles causing extensive damage thereto and even possible personal injury to the occupants of the car. The brush elements 81 and 82 are flexible so that as the plow 17 is elevated or lowered onto the rail 87, the brush elements will bend so that they can move over the outwardly extending flanges at the top of said rail without any permanent distortion of the brush elements. Likewise, the spacing of the lower free ends of the brush elements 81 and 82 from the side of the rail 87 can be regulated by loosening the nut 84 and the clamp 83 and sliding the brush elements 81 and 82 axially through the tubes 78 and 79, respectively, until the proper spacing is acquired and then tightening the nut 84 causing the clap 83 to bear against the brushing elements 81 and 82 thereby clamping same to the bracket 77.

The locking assembly 116 permits the plows 17 and 17A to be held in an elevated position by the engagement of a pin or cylinder rod 119 into an opening 121 in the depending flange 55. By proper actuation of the cylinder 117 by the operator, the rod 119 is permitted to move inwardly and outwardly therefrom to be removed from or engaged with, respectively, the opening 121 in said flange 55 The wear plates 108 and 108A .are designed so that they can be easily removed from the lower end of the plates 91 and 91A, respectively. Thus, as they become worn they can be easily detached therefrom and new wear plates installed. Likewise, wear plates 113 and 114 are attached to the leading edges of the plow blades 71, 72, 71A and 72A to prevent wear on said leading edges. Since the wear occurs on the removable wear plates 113 and 114, associated with plow blade 72 and similar wear plates associated with the other plow blades, the actual lifetime of the plow blades is increased.

Although a particular preferred embodiment of the invention has been disclosed above for illustrative purposes, it will be understood that variations or modifications thereof which lie within the scope of the appended claims are fully contemplated.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A railway roadbed plow for a railway vehicle for spreading ballast along a railroad railway, comprising:

a frame;

a plurality of ballast moving means secured to the frame and supported for vertical movement independent of one another;

means for separately raising and lowering independent ones of the ballast moving means;

guide means secured to each of the ballast moving means adjacent at least one end thereof;

clamping means on the ballast moving means for holding a pair of adjacent ends of the ballast moving means together, the clamping means being guided by the guide means for permitting the ballast moving means to move vertically while holding the adjacent ends thereof together.

2. The railway roadbed plow defined in claim 1, wherein said guide means is a plate secured to at least one end of each of the ballast moving means, the plate on each of the ballast moving means having an elongated opening therethrough; and

wherein the clamping means comprises a pair of roller means disposed on opposite sides of a pair of plates on the adjacent ends of at least a pair of the ballast moving means, each one of the roller means being secured to one of the plates, extending through the openings in the plates and engaging the side of the other plate opposite the one plate to hold the plates together and to permit a relative vertical movement between the plates.

3. The railway roadbed plow defined in claim 2, including resilient means resiliently urging the roller means against the sides of the plates to resiliently hold the plates together.

4. The railway roadbed plow defined in claim 1, including brush means supported on the ballast moving means adjacent the rails for moving the ballast away from the side of the rails.

5. The railway roadbed plow defined in claim 4, wherein the brush means comprises bracket means supported on the ballast moving means adjacent the rails, the brack et means supporting brush elements, the free ends of which are positioned adjacent the sides of the rails.

6. The railway roadbed plow defined in claim 4, wherein the brush means comprises a bracket .adjacent both sides of each of a pair of rails, each of the brackets supporting a plurality of brush elements, the free ends of which are positioned adjacent opposite sides of each of the rails.

7. The railway roadbed plow defined in claim 1, including locking means for holding independent ones of the ballast moving means in an elevated position.

8. The railway roadbed plow defined in claim 7, wherein the locking means includes an opening in each of the ballast moving means and actuable means supported on the frame for driving pins into and out of the openings, the pins holding independent ones of the ballast moving means in an elevated position.

9. The railway roadbcd plow defined in claim 1, including a removable wear plate secured to the lower edge of the guide means.

References Cited ROBERT E. PULFREY, Primary Examiner E. H. EICKHOLT, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 15-54; 37-30, 44 

